"Kash," (as he calls himself-goes by one name), takes in bikes at the Bike Parking Facility at SBC Park where he runs a "bike valet," South of the stadium on the Portwalk above McCovey Cove. Kash runs the service for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Event on 4/23/05 in San Francisco.
Darryl Bush / The Chronicle

It was 10 minutes before the opening pitch when the serious rush began in a small room below the stands at SBC Park. San Francisco's head bike valet jumped out of a blue canvas chair and greeted his customers who were arriving one after another on expensive racing cycles, trail bikes, old beaters and models with child-size wheels.

"How much is this?" asked Aaron Morin, holding his bike with one hand while he reached for his wallet.

"We don't charge," said the valet, Kash, smiling quietly.

"Free?" said Morin, who'd brought his bike on Caltrain from Mountain View, and was slightly dumbfounded to find something in the world that was still free.

The price, or lack of it, was one of Kash's goals when he first envisioned the service about nine years ago. Kash, who goes by one name, has gone from watching bikes outside City Hall to running a regular bike valet service for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition at the ballpark and most major outdoor events. And now, Kash is bike parking coordinator.

Event sponsors contract with the coalition, paying fees that vary depending on the size of the event and anticipated number of bikes.

The Giants pay on average $150 per game for the service. Sponsors of other outdoor events pay, on average, $45 per hour. The money goes to the coalition, which pays Kash, who also gets tips. Leah Shahum, executive director of the bicycle coalition, said he's become known at the coalition and to other cyclists around town as "the Bike Guy."

"He has taken bike valet parking from a fringe activity to a really mainstream, expected piece of an event," she said.

Kash runs the service with his staff of volunteers, usually including two of the most eager but occasionally unruly members, his 7- and 12-year-old daughters.

They arrive, of course, by some form of bike. Kash has never had a driver's license or owned a car.

"I grew up in New York; I raised two kids in the suburbs and never felt the need for a car," said Kash, who once bicycled from San Francisco to Placerville to check out a firefighting job.

He sees this as an unremarkable accomplishment. Anyone can make the choice to eschew the automobile, he said, and almost anyone can get anywhere in San Francisco by bike in 45 minutes. Rain? "Get wet. That's what skin is for," he said.

Hills? Use gears properly and they are surmountable. Bike security? That perhaps is the last remaining reason not to ride.

San Francisco happens to be the nation's fourth riskiest place to own a bicycle. Theft rates here are just behind those in New York City, Chicago and Miami, according to Kryptonite, a manufacturer of bike locks. There were 1,048 bikes reported stolen last year, according to San Francisco police, but the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition believes the actual number of bike heists was far greater because most are not reported to police.

Morin said he was planning on chaining his bike to the fence when a police officer told him about the valet service, which offers the ballpark's only monitored bike parking area.

"In the back of your mind, you always worry when you leave your bike outside, smart as the thieves are these days," he said.

Kash's daughter Iris, 12, handed him a clipboard with a blue claim check on it. He signed and she ripped off a receipt for him. Zoe, 7, stapled the rest of the check on the bike's handlebars and Kash wheeled it away, parking it in one of the racks ringing the room. During weekend day games, the room and an adjoining one are filled. During weeknight games, Kash has time to talk with his daughters -- whose mother often picks them up in a car before the game ends -- or read a novel while he waits between customers.

Kash, in his early 40s, grew up in New York. He said he dropped out of "various Eastern colleges," before moving to California in the mid-'80s.

He has been active in bike politics for about two decades. It seemed a natural thing to do in San Francisco, he said. When he arrived, there was no organized bike advocacy group and few bike lanes.

"It's so easy to make an urban area bike friendly," he said. "Yet so many people don't think it's possible."

He was an original member of the Bicycle Coalition, a group that is pushing for a citywide network of bike lanes and is credited with elevating awareness of bike issues in San Francisco.

Kash remembers the day he first worked parking bikes outside City Hall. He and other activists wanted a big turnout at a meeting so they called loyal people to come and attend.

"People said, 'Hell, no, I won't leave my bike outside City Hall,' " said Kash. "So I said, 'I will stand outside and watch your bike.' We had 40 to 60 bikes that day, lined up at City Hall."

The idea took off. Since 1999, the city has required that monitored bike parking be offered at outdoor events that draw more than 2,000 people. The ballpark has a specially designated room near the boardwalk that runs along the bay. Volunteer valets parked hundreds of bikes at last year's Pride Parade and at the opening celebration of Crissy Field. The service will be offered on Thursday at the Bike-Away-From-Work Cocktail Party following Bike to Work Day.

"It's like Porta Potties," said Kash, who will only take credit for "reinventing" the idea of bike valets, a service that thrived during the golden age of bikes. "You want a good event? You hire Porta Potties. Right below that is bike valets."

Learn more

In honor of Bike-to-Work Day on Thursday, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will be providing bike valet parking at the Bike-Away-From-Work Cocktail Party 6-9 p.m., 111 Minna Gallery, (between Mission & Howard, off 2nd). Information: Visit www.sfbike.org..

Making way for cyclists

On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors' Land Use Committee is scheduled to consider an ordinance amending the Transportation Element and Downtown Plan of the city's General Plan to reflect adoption of the San Francisco Bicycle Plan. Still to come is legislation approving proposed bike route improvements, which could result in shifting of traffic patterns and widening of some streets in San Francisco.